Powerplay Family Entertainment Center - The Best Voting Location Ever!

In past elections, I have voted by mail, in an elementary school, and in a civic center twice. Boring! My new voting location is so cool, my kids want to come and stand in line with me. I'm not kidding! How'd I get so lucky? (No, I won't be bringing my kids along. I did that two years ago. Never again.) This year, on November 4^th, I will be voting for the next President of the United States at Powerplay Family Entertainment Center in Shawnee, Kansas.

Powerplay is an ideal voting location. Take the virtual tour at http://powerplaykc.com/index.html. Indoor go-kart track? Check. Mini-golf? Check. Tilt-a-whirl; bumper cars; laser tag; bowling alley; a rocket ride; a "kid zone" with a moonwalk, train, and climbing area with lots of tunnels and slides?! Of course Powerplay has all those things! Did I forget to mention the hundreds of arcade games; ski-ball; air hockey; virtual reality roller coaster thingamabob; ice cream stand; and a yummy buffet, including a salad bar, pizza, pasta, chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, and homemade cookies? If I had a team of ten players, I could reserve the "Whirlyball" court! ("Whirlyball" combines bumper cars and whiffle balls. I'm not sure how you score points. I think if you're playing this game, you've already lost--no offense, any die-hard Whirlyballers out there.) For a measly 100 tickets, I can get three plastic parachute men and two Tootsie Rolls in Powerplay's ticket-redemption store. I'm not exaggerating!

Now you know why I'm so excited to vote! I hope I get the Dance Dance Revolution booth. Let me vote "no!" on proposition-one with my feet. How about I stomp out all my choices? Left, down, up, right equals a thousand points for Obama-Biden! Yes! 300 points on ski-ball equals more funding for Shawnee firefighters! Five bull's-eyes in the shooting gallery is a vote of support for Judge Huppenpfeffermusstermann! Maybe Pac-Man can eat all the colorful "ghosts" of candidates I don't support. Take that, Senator Buglebarberbrummerstein! Here's another welcome improvement to the dreary voting process: "Whack-a-Mole" with candidate's faces taped to the bobbing moles. Who wouldn't enjoy pounding the crap out of the Sarah Palin mole?

Voting shouldn't be a chore. I hope that other video arcades and family entertainment centers across America follow Powerplay's lead, combining democratic process and fun.

(I am well aware that I will most likely be voting in a traditional booth with a boring touch-screen monitor in a quiet banquet room, far-removed from Powerplay's noisy activity centers. But it's nice to imagine voting another way, at a voting location certain to bring out young voters in droves. I'm still hoping I get some free tokens instead of an "I Voted" sticker.

If you need information about your own voting location, go to this link.

Make sure you're registered to vote, and, please, even if your voting location isn't as awesome as mine, take the time to vote on Tuesday, November 4^th!)